Giving himself one last look in the full length mirror, DeSean was pleased with his appearance. He was dressed in a black Italian suit, white collar shirt, navy blue tie with patterns and black brogues. He took his phone, wallet and briefcase and left his room. The smell of bacon greeted his nostrils as he walked down the stairs to the kitchen.
His grandma, Tiana stood in front of the stove flipping pancakes. She was still in her nightie and a bonet on her head. He smiled as he walked to her and pecked her cheek.
"Morning Mama." He greeted.
She looked at him and smiled. "Morning baby. How was your night?"
"T'was a'ight, Mama." He said as he walked to the breakfast table and dropped his briefcase."What 'bout yours?" He asked and walked to the cabinet and took out his favorite cup to make coffee.
"T'was fine baby." She answered as she put the last piece of pancakes on a plate and turned of the stove. She walked to the breakfast bar and kept the plate. She took off her apron and washed her hands.
"Thank you, Mama." DeSean said holding his cup of coffee and sat down on the stool. He looked at the breakfast his grandma prepared. There was pancakes, eggs and bacon. He waited for his mama to come sit before he started eating.
"Your mama called me." She said as she sat down from across her grandson.
"What she say?" He asked as he put some bacon in his mouth.
She sipped her green tea. "She invited you for dinner and you didn't show up." She said and DeSean suddenly remembered his mother's text.
"Fudge." He sighed as he dropped his cutlery. "I totally forgot." He groaned in frustration.
"Boy I told you not to say that word wherever I am. If you wanna cuss, cuss. The hell is fudge?" She said with slight annoyance.
He rolled his eyes and took his phone from the table. "I'ma call her now. I know she pissed." He dialed his mother's number and called it. He put the phone in his ear listening as it rang.
She picked after the third ring.
"Hello?" Her voice sounded so soft and he immediately felt bad for missing dinner.
"Morning Ma." He greeted.
"How was your night baby?" She asked.
"T'was fine, Ma. Look, I'm sorry for not making it to dinner last night. I got caught up with work. I'm working on this new case and it's so frustrating. Jimmy's my opponent and-"
"You're rambling, Sean." She cut in with a soft chuckle.
"I'm sorry. It's just-" He started.
"It's fine baby. I understand. But make sure you come to the house this weekend." She said and he felt grateful that she understood.
"I will." He agreed, making a mental note to go to his mother's house this weekend.
"Good. Where's your grandma?" She asked and he put the phone on speaker, nodding at his grandmother who immediately understood the assignment.
"Oh, I'm here baby." Tiana spoke.
"How you doing Ma?" His mother asked.
"I'm good baby." Tiana answered.
"A'ight a'ight, I gotta get to work. Y'all can talk later." DeSean said and his grandma glared at him while his mother laughed. He did that because he knew they'd talk for long and he was already late for work.
"Bye baby, bye ma." His mother said.
"Bye. Love you." They said.
"Love y'all too." His mother said and the call ended.
"I gotta go now, Mama." He said, standing up after gulping the contents of his coffee in one go.
"But you ain't done with breakfast." Tiana said.
"I'm already late." He put his phone in his pocket and took his briefcase.
"Hol' up. I'ma pack some for you." She got up from her stool and went to the cabinet.
"Mama please no." He declined. He watched as she took a lunchbox and walked back to the breakfast bar. He opened his mouth to decline but she beat him to it.
"Shut up." She said as she put the pancakes inside the lunchbox. She finished putting the leftover breakfast in the lunchbox and haned it to him.
"Bye mama. I love you." He pecked her cheeks and headed for the door.
"I love you too baby." She said back.
***
DeSean stared at the young man before him. He hadn't seen him in four years and he looked different. He was taller, previously jet black hair was now blonde, his eyes were darker, he was muscular, he was handsome and he looked more matured in the black suit, white collar shirt, black tie and black brouges he wore. The seventeen year old he knew was now twenty-two.
The young man smirked. "Surprised?" He noticed his teeth were well aligned and white.
"What you doing here?" He asked.
"I'm here as your associate, Attorney Savage." The young man said. The smirk was still on his face.
"Why?" He asked.
"I was hired." The young man said in a duh tone.
He looked at Elsa who was standing beside him. "Is Nick in his office?"
"Yes sir." She nodded. He sighed and started walking away.
"Sir." Elsa called but he ignored her and left the office. He felt anger course through his body as he entered the already opened elevator. He hurriedly came out when he reached his floor and he walked to Nick's office.
"You knew didn't you?" He questioned as he barged into the office. Nick was seated on the couch with his legs crossed holding a bowl of popcorn as he watched a movie in his laptop that was on the glass table.
"What type of boss is this?" DeSean thought in his mind.
Nick looked at DeSean with a smile. "Morning, DeSean."
DeSean realized his mistake and greeted back. "Good morning, Nick. You-"
"How was your night?" Nick cut in with a smile as he closed his laptop.
"T'was fine." DeSean answered. His breathing was laboring because he knew what Nick was doing.
Nick raised a brow and he understood the assignment.
"Yours?" He asked Nick.
"I had a blissful night. Do you know -" Nick started cheerily.
"Nick." He interrupted.
Nick ignored him. "Do you know warm milk helps you sleep like a baby? I guess you knew. Of course you're a genius. How come I never knew? I was so-"
"Nick!" He raised his voice.
Nick frowned. "Yes, he's your associate and there's nothing you can do about it." He got up from the couch and walked to his desk.
"Why did you pick him?" DeSean asked angrily as Nick faced him, leaning against his desk.
He crossed his arms. "Remember when you told me you didn't want to face the stress of having to do interviews for an associate when you become a senior partner and you begged me to hire someone myself? Well, that's what I did. I hired someone competent. Someone who can do the job."
"Why him though? You know what he is to me."
"He's your ex's brother, so?" The older man shrugged.
"Nick, you know he had a crush on me-" DeSean started.
Nick cut in. "Had, past tense. Gary is grown now. He's not the seventeen year old you used to know. He's twenty two, an adult. Don't you think he's gotten over that childish crush he had? Or maybe he's probably straight now."
"You know I don't care about his sexuality right?" DeSean questioned.
"Oh, is it the threats? Those were childish things. I mean you broke his sister's heart and the only thing he could do was to threaten you. Get over it, DeSean. That was four years ago." He waved his hand, unbothered and went to his chair.
"Those threats weren't child-" DeSean started again.
"I'm done having this conversation. Go and tell your associate what to do on his first day." Nick cut him off sternly. DeSean just stood there looking at him, breathing heavily.
"Now." Nick ordered. DeSean nodded and left the office feeling more angry than he was. He entered his office and saw Elsa and his new associate sitting on the couch laughing. He cleared his throat and they both looked at him and got up from the couch on impulse.
"How are you, Gary Baldwin?" He asked as he walked to his desk.
"I'm good, Attorney Savage." Gary answered with a small smile and a curt nod.
DeSean nodded. "Good. Elsa's gonna show you to your desk." He said Elsa looked at him questioningly.
He gave her a small smile and sat on his chair. "Thank you Elsa."
"This way." Elsa said to Gary and they both left the office.
***
It's been three hours since work closed ad DeSean was still in his office. The time read 9.13pm. Elsa and his new associate/ex's brother had already left. Speaking of his new associate, he still wasn't comfortable around him. Though, Gary came to tell him to join he and Elsa for lunch, he still feels the young man was putting on a facade. He knew Gary and what he was capable of so his fake smiles and acting innocent won't work on him.
He yawned and got up from his chair. He took his suit, phone and briefcase and left his office. The whole firm was empty and dark. Even the security had left. He used his phone's flashlight to be able to see through the dark. He used the stairs and left the building using the emergency exit because that was what the security guard told him to do.
He was walking to his bicycle when he heard some footsteps making him stop. He used his phone to flash around but then he got tackled to the ground making him groan in pain and his phone fell off his hand. He felt something sharp pierce his side making him yell in pain.
"Bastard." His attacker cussed, his voice sounding familiar. His attacker got up from him and kicked his stomach making him groan and he left. He grunted in pain as he tried to search the ground for his phone. His hand touched an object and he picked it up and luckily it was his phone.
His hand fumbled with the phone as he tried to unlock it. He was in pain and his vision was getting hazy. He finally unlocked it and he called his grandma whose number was on speed dial.
"Pick up." He grunted as it rang.
She finally picked. "Where you at, DeSean?" He felt relief when he heard her voice.
"Mama." He called out, grunting in pain.
"Baby? What happened? Where are you? Why do you sound like that?" His grandma bombarded. The worry and fear were clear in her voice.
He tried to answer but he couldn't. He felt his eyes closing and he still heard his grandmother's voice, though they sounded faint.
"DeSean baby." Was the last thing he heard when his eyes closed.